Interview with Seacoast 'Iron Brides' contestants

Sunday

Nov 30, 2008 at 2:00 AM

Three brides-to-be will represent the Seacoast in the upcoming television show "Iron Brides": Tricia Comi of Portsmouth; Darlene Ramsey of York, Maine; and Kylin Szlosek of Hampton will compete against five other New Hampshire brides for a photography and videography package worth $9,000 and several other wedding-related prizes. The show, which began filming last weekend, is set to air on MyTV in February 2009.

Amanda A. Hamilton

Three brides-to-be will represent the Seacoast in the upcoming television show "Iron Brides": Tricia Comi of Portsmouth; Darlene Ramsey of York, Maine; and Kylin Szlosek of Hampton will compete against five other New Hampshire brides for a photography and videography package worth $9,000 and several other wedding-related prizes. The show, which began filming last weekend, is set to air on MyTV in February 2009.

Comi learned of the "Iron Brides" audition after receiving an e-mail from Madeleine's Daughter. She said she doesn't usually pay attention to things like this, but took accidentally leaving her iron on for three days as a sign she should at least check it out. "I thought it would be much better to be in the paper with a headline that reads 'Local Bride Final Contestant as "Iron Bride",' rather than 'Local Bride Burned Down House by Iron'," she said on her audition tape.

Comi and her fiancé Misha Cook, also from Portsmouth, have plans to wed next July, and she said he has been very supportive of her television debut.

"He always thinks I'm biting off more than I can chew, but he's really excited and proud," she said.

Her fiancé isn't the only support she has, though. Comi also has the support of the second-grade students she teaches. She said she hasn't told them everything yet, but they already think she is a celebrity after being in the paper.

"They'll probably go crazy when I do tell them," she said.

Even though Ramsey said she has always wanted to be on television, she wasn't originally hooked on the idea of auditioning when her fiancé first brought her the newspaper article about the show. After thinking about it for a while and asking her coworkers what they thought, she decided she just had to do it.

"This is in my realm, but not something I would normally do," Ramsey said.

She and her fiancé, Pat Borgmann, also from York, Maine, became engaged on July 25 after reconnecting on Classmates.com. The two hadn't spoken since their high school graduation 25 years ago, but when Ramsey found Borgmann's profile and phone number she decided to give him a call.

"At first it (the show) was all about the prize, but now it's the challenge of doing something out of the box," she said. "I am so competitive, but I'm also looking for experience...; taking every challenge and being me."

Szlosek is also looking to learn new things and create new friendships.

"I think this will be a good experience all around," she said.

Szlosek does admit that the prize would definitely help her and her fiancé, Joseph Riccioli, also from Hampton.

"We're trying to do all of this on our own, so it would be amazing," she said.

Like many of the other brides, Szlosek said her family and friends have been very supportive of her desire to be on the show and they believe she has what it takes to be the "Iron Brides" winner.

"My friends and family think I've already got this in the bag because of the type of person I am," she said.

George Jobel, the show's executive producer, said that choosing the final group of brides was very difficult, but the choice came down to camera presence, back stories, strong competitors and the ability to develop an online audience through comments and views.

He said that while the show is about wedding planning, he wants the brides to really challenge themselves and learn and perfect negotiation and communication skills.

"We're trying to carefully craft the ability for girls to break through their personal glass ceilings," he said. "Reality TV has a well deserved bad rep... we want a different take on this."

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